Escalating prices for oil is doing a lot more than affecting what you pay for at the fuel pump. Efforts to squeeze every last drop of diesel and gasoline out of crude have driven up asphalt prices and costs of other paving materials. As a result, numerous states are being forced to cut back on needed road and bridge work.

Land Line recently took a look at states that are struggling to pay for promised highway projects. Here is a sampling of what was found:

Oregon
The price tag for ongoing transportation projects in Oregon has jumped by $100 million since 2004.

State officials say higher prices for oil, as well as steel, concrete and cement, are causing the state to divert money from future projects to complete existing road and bridge work. As a result, plans to repave aging roadways, repair or replace crumbling bridges and relieve congestion will be put off.

“It’s a very, very troubling development that we are going to have to do some hard thinking about,” Stuart Foster, Oregon Transportation Commission chairman, told The Oregonian.

Other factors in the state’s fight to fund transportation work are the competition for labor and materials for construction projects around the nation, specifically in neighboring states and the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast. The building boom in China also is playing a part in higher costs.

The state plans to make up for losses by eliminating projects from the bottom of the priority lists, The Oregonian reported. Several cities and counties throughout Oregon already are putting off needed construction planned this summer.

Maine
David Cole, the head of the Maine’s Department of Transportation, said the cost of asphalt has more than doubled in the state during the past year.

Higher prices for asphalt results in fewer projects being complete and in some cases lower grade treatments “that may only last seven to eight years instead of one that would last 12 to 15 years,” Cole told the Bangor Daily News.

The rising costs of fuel and construction led MDOT last fall to defer one-fifth of all the projects it had proposed for the current two-year budget cycle, which represented a total of $130 million in work throughout the state.

The cutback took less of a bite this year when state lawmakers approved a $15 million supplemental appropriation and opted to “re-engineer” several of the projects to reduce costs, the Daily News reported.

Cole said existing contracts were not deferred. Projects specifically required by federal legislation also were not disrupted.

Louisiana
Concern about how to pay for needed road and bridge work has transportation officials in Louisiana studying a wide range of options.

Higher fuel taxes, partnering with private groups and registration and fee increases are among the suggestions being offered to help finance the state’s $12 billion backlog of road construction, The Advocate in Baton Rouge reported. The state’s annual budget is $2.2 billion.

Johnny Bradberry, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, said that no decisions have been made about how to pay for the backlog of road and bridge work, which will cost more than $200 million a year for upkeep.

That being said, Bradberry told the newspaper that “everything is on the table” in terms of what will go into any proposal. The secretary said he plans to make his suggestions to state leaders by year’s end so the state Legislature can get to work on solutions as soon as the 2007 session begins.

Concern about fast-rising fuel prices has many officials trying to avoid any serious consideration of higher fuel taxes.

Another option that likely will generate a lot of discussion is allowing the state to partner with private groups to build toll roads and bridges.

Gov. Kathleen Blanco signed a bill into law in June that authorizes the Louisiana Transportation Authority to work out details with private groups to build roads, bridges or expand an existing facility.

Wisconsin
Officials in Wisconsin are scratching their heads over the state’s road funding needs. Soaring inflation rates and other cost increases have tacked on nearly $385 million to the price tag of roadwork, the state Transportation Department reports.

According to WisDOT, the cost of completing 27 road projects nearly doubled the original estimate for the first half of the year to $3.69 billion – up from $1.95 billion.

The agency report was released as the Legislature’s Transportation Needs and Financing Committee searches for ways to address the rising costs of road and bridge work. The report also follows an announcement by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau that the state needs to increase transportation funding by as much as $700 million a year to meet goals set by the agency in 2000, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Inflation is being blamed for part of the problem. Construction costs, fuel and steel prices also are contributors to higher costs. But dwindling fuel tax revenue resulting from people driving less in the face of $3-per-gallon pump prices is worsening the situation, The Associated Press reported.

Sen. Dan Kapanke, R-La Crosse, co-chairman of the Road to the Future Committee, said lawmakers would have open minds for how to fund roads.

“I’m not saying I’m going to tolerate an increase in (fuel) taxes or fees, but everything has to be on the table,” Kapanke told the Journal Sentinel.

Wyoming
Despite the uncertainty of federal funding and the unpredictability of inflation, the Wyoming Department of Transportation has released a tentative plan of highway projects that would require nearly $240 million during the next year to complete.

The tentative roadwork plan, which still must go before the state Transportation Commission for approval, includes construction projects on 440 miles of roads and safety improvements for fiscal year 2007, The Associated Press reported. It also provides a glimpse of planned projects for the next four years and beyond.

Del McOmie, chief engineer with the Wyoming Department of Transportation, said he expects the plan to undergo multiple revisions during the fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. As is the case in numerous states, McOmie cited money issues for the revisions.

Among the issues causing uncertainty about available dollars in Wyoming are soaring construction costs, including asphalt, and ongoing negotiations about federal funding for highway projects next year, The AP reported. Rising diesel prices to deliver product to job sites and run construction equipment also were cited.

McOmie said inflation in construction costs have more than doubled between 1998 and 2004 and increased another 50 percent in 2005. He also said that asphalt oil has increased from $250 a ton early this year to near $500.

The end result of the higher costs is less money to be used for planned roadwork, McOmie said.

To help compensate for some of the escalating costs, the Wyoming Legislature this year tacked on an additional $75 million for roadwork.

“Had we not got that $75 million you’d see a much, much reduced program,” McOmie told The AP.

– By Keith Goble, state legislative editor
keith_goble@landlinemag.com